THIS documentary about U.N. arms inspection in Iraq could be very pertinent as the Bush government prepares for war. It isn’t.

As written and directed by Scott Ritter, who was a member of the U.N. team in Iraq until he quit in 1998, it serves merely as a soapbox for his contention that the Clinton administration sought to provoke a confrontation between the inspectors and Iraq so the U.S. would have an excuse to go to war with Baghdad.

That charge has been made before and could very well be true – but that’s beside the point.

“In Shifting Sands” just isn’t very good.

Not only has Ritter made his documentary a one-sided one, but he commits the journalistic sin of using himself as the film’s main talking head. In other words, he’s interviewing himself. It’s as if Ted Koppel’s guest on a “Nightline” turned out to be . . . Ted Koppel.

Running time: 92 minutes. Not rated. At the Quad, 13th Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues.